An 18-year-old athlete is lying on the floor, weak and unable to tell a team of caregivers the problem. Suddenly, he becomes completely unresponsive as the team desperately tries to revive him and figure out what's wrong.

Luckily, they hit on the correct diagnosis -- low insulin levels in a diabetic -- and GUS, or the Georgetown University Patient Simulator, will live to see another day.

These team members are no ordinary doctors and nurses. In fact, they're not even out of high school yet. They are students in Pathways to Success, a Georgetown-run academic immersion program that brings high school juniors and seniors from rural America to Washington, D.C., for three weeks each summer. The students, all tapped for their academic achievements and interest in health sciences, spend their time at Georgetown learning about career opportunities, hearing from professionals, taking classes and saving GUS. They came to Georgetown this summer from June 21 to July 11.

The human science department in the School of Nursing and Health Studies (NHS) runs Pathways, hosting 30 students each year.

"Health sciences are fundamental to society's well-being," says NHS Dean Bette K. Jacobs. "Pathways to Success expresses the NHS mission to improve the health and well-being of all people. Our faculty members extend their scope of influence to high school students. These students are tomorrow's leaders in health, science and technology."

Dr. Charles Evans, chair of the department, has headed Pathways since its inception in 2002.

"The school wanted to start an outreach to talented students in rural America to encourage them to move toward seeing health sciences as a career option," he says. "They are introduced to various aspects of health sciences, including reading, writing and quantitative skills they will need to get into college."

More importantly, the students are exposed to scientific research and facilities unavailable in their home communities. Pathways partners with three underserved rural areas around the country. This year students come from American Indian high schools in Pine Ridge Reservation, S.D.; Assumption Parish High School in Napoleonville, La.; and Centauri High School in La Jara, Colo.

"These are some academically disadvantaged areas that don't have things like AP courses. We're trying to give the Pathways students exposure to things that private schools and some public schools have, and give them the same opportunities," says Francesca Tripodi, associate Pathways director and program coordinator in NHS.

Pathways started with a founding grant from the National Institutes of Health. Now a grant from the Goldman Sachs Foundation keeps the program running. The directors are exploring additional grants that may allow them to accept more students and tack on an extra week to the program.

The foundation's funding provides Pathways with a jam-packed schedule for the high school scholars. Students visit area hospitals to hear from doctors, nurses, patient advocates and other health professionals. They go to laboratories, meet with mentors and have sessions on college admissions and financial aid. There is even time for some socializing, including a dance and a trip to Rehoboth beach in Delaware.

"It's really been eye-opening," says Kaylee Sowards, 17, of Manassa, Colo. "I'm from this little town in Colorado, so to get to come to Washington for three weeks and live in a dorm is something I wouldn't have gotten to experience. It's helping me think about what I want to do in college."

Getting students into college, and potentially into a health career, is a top goal of Pathways. The program boasts some impressive statistics -- 90 percent of participants go onto community, state and private universities, and 75 percent enroll in health science-related fields. Two past participants are Georgetown students and several in this year's group plan to apply to the university.

All Pathways students take university-level classes at Georgetown. First year students take two seminar courses for one credit each, according to Evans. Second-year students take the Language of Health and Disease, a three-credit introductory course that teaches students the technology and terminology they need to become a health sciences major.

Passing a university course is a big deal to students, Evans says. It provides a confidence boost and a reality check about what they will face in college.

"It taught us all how to study," notes Nikela Sandoval, 17, also from Manassa. "We formed study groups and helped each other. It was intense."

And how did the students survive the course and make it through the final?

"Starbucks," they all chime in.

Watching students band together and succeed is a major source of pride for Evans and Tripodi.

"It's the ability of the second-year students to achieve so much in their course," Evans explains. "They do the same coursework and take the same final exam as the university students do, and they're pulling their hair out and stressing ahead of that exam. But it's wonderful to see their faces when they get their grade back -- the students see they really can do this."

Tripodi says the students went through a patch of homesickness together this year. The group held a "powwow" to talk through it, and how college might bring on the same feelings.

"We talked about why it's important to work through it and how they'll be glad they believed in themselves enough to make it," Tripodi says. "It's been amazing watching these three weeks of transformation and experiencing them finding out they can do hard things."

GUS also is a beneficiary of that progress between the first and second years of Pathways. In 2007, he wasn't so lucky -- the students forgot to administer oxygen to the patient and he didn't make it. This year, GUS got the air he needed to "live."